<!DOCTYPE html SYSTEM "about:legacy-compat">
<html lang="en"><head><META http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"><link href="../images/docs-stylesheet.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"><title>Apache Tomcat 8 Configuration Reference (8.5.31) - The Engine Container</title><meta name="author" content="Craig R. McClanahan"><script type="application/javascript" data-comments-identifier="tomcat-8.5-doc/config/engine">
    "use strict"; // Enable strict mode

    (function() {
      var thisScript = document.currentScript;
      if (!thisScript) { // Workaround for IE <= 11
        var scripts = document.getElementsByTagName("script");
        thisScript = scripts[scripts.length - 1];
      }
      document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", (function() {
        var commentsDiv = document.getElementById("comments_thread");
        var commentsShortname = "tomcat";
        var commentsIdentifier = "http://tomcat.apache.org/" +
          thisScript.getAttribute("data-comments-identifier") + ".html";

        (function(w, d) {
          if (w.location.hostname.toLowerCase() == "tomcat.apache.org") {
            var s = d.createElement("script");
            s.type = "application/javascript";
            s.async = true;
            s.src = "https://comments.apache.org/show_comments.lua?site=" +
              encodeURIComponent(commentsShortname) +
              "&page=" + encodeURIComponent(commentsIdentifier);
            d.head.appendChild(s);
          } else {
            commentsDiv.appendChild(d.createTextNode("Comments are disabled for this page at the moment."));
          }
        })(window, document);
      }), false);
    })();
  </script></head><body><div id="wrapper"><header><div id="header"><div><div><div class="logo noPrint"><a href="http://tomcat.apache.org/"><img alt="Tomcat Home" src="../images/tomcat.png"></a></div><div style="height: 1px;"></div><div class="asfLogo noPrint"><a href="http://www.apache.org/" target="_blank"><img src="../images/asf-logo.svg" alt="The Apache Software Foundation" style="width: 266px; height: 83px;"></a></div><h1>Apache Tomcat 8 Configuration Reference</h1><div class="versionInfo">
          Version 8.5.31,
          <time datetime="2018-04-27">Apr 27 2018</time></div><div style="height: 1px;"></div><div style="clear: left;"></div></div></div></div></header><div id="middle"><div><div id="mainLeft" class="noprint"><div><nav><div><h2>Links</h2><ul><li><a href="../index.html">Docs Home</a></li><li><a href="index.html">Config Ref. Home</a></li><li><a href="http://wiki.apache.org/tomcat/FAQ">FAQ</a></li><li><a href="#comments_section">User Comments</a></li></ul></div><div><h2>Top Level Elements</h2><ul><li><a href="server.html">Server</a></li><li><a href="service.html">Service</a></li></ul></div><div><h2>Executors</h2><ul><li><a href="executor.html">Executor</a></li></ul></div><div><h2>Connectors</h2><ul><li><a href="http.html">HTTP/1.1</a></li><li><a href="http2.html">HTTP/2</a></li><li><a href="ajp.html">AJP</a></li></ul></div><div><h2>Containers</h2><ul><li><a href="context.html">Context</a></li><li><a href="engine.html">Engine</a></li><li><a href="host.html">Host</a></li><li><a href="cluster.html">Cluster</a></li></ul></div><div><h2>Nested Components</h2><ul><li><a href="cookie-processor.html">CookieProcessor</a></li><li><a href="credentialhandler.html">CredentialHandler</a></li><li><a href="globalresources.html">Global Resources</a></li><li><a href="jar-scanner.html">JarScanner</a></li><li><a href="jar-scan-filter.html">JarScanFilter</a></li><li><a href="listeners.html">Listeners</a></li><li><a href="loader.html">Loader</a></li><li><a href="manager.html">Manager</a></li><li><a href="realm.html">Realm</a></li><li><a href="resources.html">Resources</a></li><li><a href="sessionidgenerator.html">SessionIdGenerator</a></li><li><a href="valve.html">Valve</a></li></ul></div><div><h2>Cluster Elements</h2><ul><li><a href="cluster.html">Cluster</a></li><li><a href="cluster-manager.html">Manager</a></li><li><a href="cluster-channel.html">Channel</a></li><li><a href="cluster-membership.html">Channel/Membership</a></li><li><a href="cluster-sender.html">Channel/Sender</a></li><li><a href="cluster-receiver.html">Channel/Receiver</a></li><li><a href="cluster-interceptor.html">Channel/Interceptor</a></li><li><a href="cluster-valve.html">Valve</a></li><li><a href="cluster-deployer.html">Deployer</a></li><li><a href="cluster-listener.html">ClusterListener</a></li></ul></div><div><h2>web.xml</h2><ul><li><a href="filter.html">Filter</a></li></ul></div><div><h2>Other</h2><ul><li><a href="systemprops.html">System properties</a></li><li><a href="jaspic.html">JASPIC</a></li></ul></div></nav></div></div><div id="mainRight"><div id="content"><h2>The Engine Container</h2><h3 id="Table_of_Contents">Table of Contents</h3><div class="text">
<ul><li><a href="#Introduction">Introduction</a></li><li><a href="#Attributes">Attributes</a><ol><li><a href="#Common_Attributes">Common Attributes</a></li><li><a href="#Standard_Implementation">Standard Implementation</a></li></ol></li><li><a href="#Nested_Components">Nested Components</a></li><li><a href="#Special_Features">Special Features</a><ol><li><a href="#Logging">Logging</a></li><li><a href="#Access_Logs">Access Logs</a></li><li><a href="#Lifecycle_Listeners">Lifecycle Listeners</a></li><li><a href="#Request_Filters">Request Filters</a></li></ol></li></ul>
</div><h3 id="Introduction">Introduction</h3><div class="text">

  <p>The <strong>Engine</strong> element represents the entire request
  processing machinery associated with a particular Catalina
  <a href="service.html">Service</a>.  It receives and processes
  <em>all</em> requests from one or more <strong>Connectors</strong>,
  and returns the completed response to the Connector for ultimate
  transmission back to the client.</p>

  <p>Exactly one <strong>Engine</strong> element MUST be nested inside
  a <a href="service.html">Service</a> element, following all of the
  corresponding Connector elements associated with this Service.</p>

</div><h3 id="Attributes">Attributes</h3><div class="text">

  <div class="subsection"><h4 id="Common_Attributes">Common Attributes</h4><div class="text">

    <p>All implementations of <strong>Engine</strong>
    support the following attributes:</p>

    <table class="defaultTable"><tr><th style="width: 15%;">
          Attribute
        </th><th style="width: 85%;">
          Description
        </th></tr><tr><td><code class="attributeName">backgroundProcessorDelay</code></td><td>
        <p>This value represents the delay in seconds between the
        invocation of the backgroundProcess method on this engine and
        its child containers, including all hosts and contexts.
        Child containers will not be invoked if their delay value is not
        negative (which would mean they are using their own processing
        thread). Setting this to a positive value will cause
        a thread to be spawn. After waiting the specified amount of time,
        the thread will invoke the backgroundProcess method on this engine
        and all its child containers. If not specified, the default value for
        this attribute is 10, which represent a 10 seconds delay.</p>
      </td></tr><tr><td><code class="attributeName">className</code></td><td>
        <p>Java class name of the implementation to use.  This class must
        implement the <code>org.apache.catalina.Engine</code> interface.
        If not specified, the standard value (defined below) will be used.</p>
      </td></tr><tr><td><strong><code class="attributeName">defaultHost</code></strong></td><td>
        <p>The default host name, which identifies the
        <a href="host.html">Host</a> that will process requests directed
        to host names on this server, but which are not configured in
        this configuration file.  This name MUST match the <code>name</code>
        attributes of one of the <a href="host.html">Host</a> elements
        nested immediately inside.</p>
      </td></tr><tr><td><code class="attributeName">jvmRoute</code></td><td>
        <p>Identifier which must be used in load balancing scenarios to enable
        session affinity. The identifier, which must be unique across all
        Tomcat servers which participate in the cluster, will be appended to
        the generated session identifier, therefore allowing the front end
        proxy to always forward a particular session to the same Tomcat
        instance.</p>
        <p>
            Note that the <code>jvmRoute</code> can also be set using the
            <code>jvmRoute</code> system property. The <code>jvmRoute</code>
            set in an <code>&lt;Engine&gt;</code> attribute will override
            any <code>jvmRoute</code> system property.
        </p>
      </td></tr><tr><td><strong><code class="attributeName">name</code></strong></td><td>
        <p>Logical name of this Engine, used in log and error messages. <em>When
        using multiple <a href="service.html">Service</a> elements in the same
        <a href="server.html">Server</a>, each Engine MUST be assigned a unique
        name.</em></p>
      </td></tr><tr><td><code class="attributeName">startStopThreads</code></td><td>
        <p>The number of threads this <strong>Engine</strong> will use to start
        child <a href="host.html">Host</a> elements in parallel. The special
        value of 0 will result in the value of
        <code>Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors()</code> being used.
        Negative values will result in
        <code>Runtime.getRuntime().availableProcessors() + value</code> being
        used unless this is less than 1 in which case 1 thread will be used. If
        not specified, the default value of 1 will be used. </p>
      </td></tr></table>

  </div></div>


  <div class="subsection"><h4 id="Standard_Implementation">Standard Implementation</h4><div class="text">

    <p>The standard implementation of <strong>Engine</strong> is
    <strong>org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine</strong>.
    It supports the following additional attributes (in addition to the
    common attributes listed above):</p>

    <table class="defaultTable"><tr><th style="width: 15%;">
          Attribute
        </th><th style="width: 85%;">
          Description
        </th></tr></table>

  </div></div>


</div><h3 id="Nested_Components">Nested Components</h3><div class="text">

  <p>You can nest one or more <a href="host.html">Host</a> elements inside
  this <strong>Engine</strong> element, each representing a different virtual
  host associated with this server.  At least one <a href="host.html">Host</a>
  is required, and one of the nested <a href="host.html">Hosts</a> MUST
  have a name that matches the name specified for the
  <code>defaultHost</code> attribute, listed above.</p>

  <p>You can nest at most one instance of the following utility components
  by nesting a corresponding element inside your <strong>Engine</strong>
  element:</p>
  <ul>
  <li><a href="realm.html"><strong>Realm</strong></a> -
      Configure a realm that will allow its
      database of users, and their associated roles, to be shared across all
      <a href="host.html">Hosts</a> and <a href="context.html">Contexts</a>
      nested inside this Engine, unless overridden by a
      <a href="realm.html">Realm</a> configuration at a lower level.</li>
  </ul>

</div><h3 id="Special_Features">Special Features</h3><div class="text">


  <div class="subsection"><h4 id="Logging">Logging</h4><div class="text">

    <p>An engine is associated with the
       <code>org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.[enginename]</code>
       log category.  Note that the brackets are actually part of the name,
       don't omit them.</p>

  </div></div>


  <div class="subsection"><h4 id="Access_Logs">Access Logs</h4><div class="text">

    <p>When you run a web server, one of the output files normally generated
    is an <em>access log</em>, which generates one line of information for
    each request processed by the server, in a standard format.  Catalina
    includes an optional <a href="valve.html">Valve</a> implementation that
    can create access logs in the same standard format created by web servers,
    or in any number of custom formats.</p>

    <p>You can ask Catalina to create an access log for all requests
    processed by an <a href="engine.html">Engine</a>,
    <a href="host.html">Host</a>, or <a href="context.html">Context</a>
    by nesting a <a href="valve.html">Valve</a> element like this:</p>

<div class="codeBox"><pre><code>&lt;Engine name="Standalone" ...&gt;
  ...
  &lt;Valve className="org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve"
         prefix="catalina_access_log" suffix=".txt"
         pattern="common"/&gt;
  ...
&lt;/Engine&gt;</code></pre></div>

    <p>See <a href="valve.html#Access_Logging">Access Logging Valves</a>
    for more information on the configuration attributes that are
    supported.</p>

  </div></div>


  <div class="subsection"><h4 id="Lifecycle_Listeners">Lifecycle Listeners</h4><div class="text">

    <p>If you have implemented a Java object that needs to know when this
    <strong>Engine</strong> is started or stopped, you can declare it by
    nesting a <strong>Listener</strong> element inside this element.  The
    class name you specify must implement the
    <code>org.apache.catalina.LifecycleListener</code> interface, and
    it will be notified about the occurrence of the corresponding
    lifecycle events.  Configuration of such a listener looks like this:</p>

<div class="codeBox"><pre><code>&lt;Engine name="Standalone" ...&gt;
  ...
  &lt;Listener className="com.mycompany.mypackage.MyListener" ... &gt;
  ...
&lt;/Engine&gt;</code></pre></div>

    <p>Note that a Listener can have any number of additional properties
    that may be configured from this element.  Attribute names are matched
    to corresponding JavaBean property names using the standard property
    method naming patterns.</p>

  </div></div>


  <div class="subsection"><h4 id="Request_Filters">Request Filters</h4><div class="text">

    <p>You can ask Catalina to check the IP address, or host name, on every
    incoming request directed to the surrounding
    <a href="engine.html">Engine</a>, <a href="host.html">Host</a>, or
    <a href="context.html">Context</a> element.  The remote address or name
    will be checked against configured "accept" and/or "deny"
    filters, which are defined using <code>java.util.regex</code> Regular
    Expression syntax.  Requests that come from locations that are
    not accepted will be rejected with an HTTP "Forbidden" error.
    Example filter declarations:</p>

<div class="codeBox"><pre><code>&lt;Engine name="Standalone" ...&gt;
  ...
  &lt;Valve className="org.apache.catalina.valves.RemoteHostValve"
         allow=".*\.mycompany\.com|www\.yourcompany\.com"/&gt;
  &lt;Valve className="org.apache.catalina.valves.RemoteAddrValve"
         deny="192\.168\.1\.\d+"/&gt;
  ...
&lt;/Engine&gt;</code></pre></div>

  <p>See <a href="valve.html#Remote_Address_Filter">Remote Address Filter</a>
  and <a href="valve.html#Remote_Host_Filter">Remote Host Filter</a> for
  more information about the configuration options that are supported.</p>

  </div></div>


</div><div class="noprint"><h3 id="comments_section">
                  Comments
                </h3><div class="text"><p class="notice"><strong>Notice: </strong>This comments section collects your suggestions
                    on improving documentation for Apache Tomcat.<br><br>
                    If you have trouble and need help, read
                    <a href="http://tomcat.apache.org/findhelp.html">Find Help</a> page
                    and ask your question on the tomcat-users
                    <a href="http://tomcat.apache.org/lists.html">mailing list</a>.
                    Do not ask such questions here. This is not a Q&amp;A section.<br><br>
                    The Apache Comments System is explained <a href="../comments.html">here</a>.
                    Comments may be removed by our moderators if they are either
                    implemented or considered invalid/off-topic.
                  </p><div id="comments_thread"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><footer><div id="footer">
    Copyright &copy; 1999-2018, The Apache Software Foundation
  </div></footer></div></body></html>